Maria Shriver comes to Palo Alto for a Book Signing

I was fortunate to be at a book signing last night in Palo Alto where Maria Shriver answered some very interesting questions. I’m going to show them to you out of sequence, because my favorite came at the end. (I also have a bunch of photos of the event on Flickr.)

She was asked what it was like balancing work and family life when she has 4 kids and such a high-powered husband. While we’re not all married to the Governor of California, she has some helpful advice for anyone trying to do the juggle.

She also gets asked to work with many, many worthwhile organizations, but she is only one person. How does she manage?

She was also asked about how she manages to incorporate mindfulness (a topic of her new book “Just Who Will You Be?”) into her daily life.

It seems like everyone else in her family has run for President — is she planning on it?

And at the very end, a smart-ass blogger (is there any other kind?) asked her for advice for getting us all on Oprah.

Comments

I like Maria Shriver. One of the best quotes I have heard from her was on Oprah when she was talking about being a mother (she has 4 kids) and she was talking to Oprah about her platform as first lady of CA- that she wanted to stress how important mothers are, and how important the work they do is.

Her and O. were brainstorming "slogans" and Maria came up with this, "Motherhood- on the front lines of humanity. Are you man enough to try it?"

I am so very jealous of you. I love Maria Shriver – she is truly an inspiration. She was born to a life of privilege, but still contributes to society, unlike so many other trust fund babies we know *cough*ParisHilton*cough*

Before I became a mother, I remember her admonishing moms for using the term "I used to be a but now I am just a mom". I swore then that I would never use the word "just" to describe myself.

I watched her on Oprah recently and related so completely to what she was saying. Despite her position, her wealth, intelligence, fame etc. she really can speak for "every woman" out there.

I just published a book about women not losing sight of themselves once they become moms — in our research we spoke to 500+ modern moms (in focus groups and online) about these very same topics. We collected all their stories and what amazed us most was how UNIVERSAL these fundamental issues are. No matter what their outward circumstances, the majority of these women suffered from perfectionism (mostly self imposed), guilt (ditto), and many also from a sense of having lost their direction.

We live in such a noisy world, it feels great just to get back in touch with our own instincts and our own needs. It helps ground us as mothers (not to mention, it gives us more patience!).

We regular people often forget that the reason why famous and influential people like Maria Shriver are able to manage is because they have a lot of help. I'm quite sure she doesn't need to drive the kids to school, make their lunch, wash their clothes, grocery shop, clean the house, and cook dinner.

It's still quite an accomplishment though to be married to a Republican and be part of the Democratic establishment.

I posted this as a comment to the first clip before I saw this string..

I'm a new mom (5 month old son) and new to the area. I found this site while googling a parent club someone told me about at DayOne. I wish I had known about Ms Shriver's presentation, I would have loved to have gone. Thank you for posting these clips. Like many, if not all of you, I have left a career (temporarily…maybe) and now have, what I perceive to be, a new identity. Hearing Ms Shriver's thoughts is a reminder to take time for myself….isn't it amazing that it takes a reminder